Fintech pitch deck
Fintech investors read your deck for two things at once: whether the money flowing through your product is growing, and whether that money is safe. A deck that only answers the first question rarely gets a second meeting.
The numbers
Money moving through a product is not the same as money the company earns. Investors want to see volume, what you keep from it, what you lose to risk, and what it costs to win a customer. Show all four together so nobody has to work it out.
Total payment volume for payments, assets under management for wealth, or the outstanding loan book for lending. It shows scale and trust, because customers only route money through products they rely on.
On the slide: monthly, for at least 12 months, with revenue shown on the same chart or right beside it so volume is never mistaken for revenue.
For payments, the share of volume you earn. For lending, net interest margin after the cost of the money you lend.
On the slide: one number per product line. If the take rate is falling as you grow, explain why, such as larger merchants on lower pricing.
Payments companies lose money to fraud and chargebacks. Lenders lose it to borrowers who stop paying. Investors check this before almost anything else because one bad cohort can wipe out a year of margin.
On the slide: for lenders, a vintage chart: each month of loans as its own line, showing how many fall overdue over time. A single blended number hides problems.
What you spend to win a customer and how many months of margin it takes to earn that back. Fintech acquisition is often expensive because trust takes several touches.
On the slide: by channel. A referral customer and a paid-ads customer behave very differently, and investors know it.
A worked example for a fictional payments startup with a 0.9% take rate. ₹1 lakh of volume earns ₹900; network and bank fees and fraud losses come out before anything pays for the team. Show this chain with your own numbers.
Regulation
In fintech, how you are allowed to operate is part of the business model. Investors want to know early which of two paths you are on.
You hold the licence. This is slower and needs capital. For example, the RBI asks non-bank payment aggregators for a net worth of ₹15 crore when they apply and ₹25 crore by the end of the third financial year[1]. Show where you are in that process and how much of the raise goes to it.
You partner with a regulated entity. Most early lending and payments startups work with a bank or NBFC that holds the licence. Name the partner, say what each side does, and explain what happens if the partner leaves. In digital lending, RBI rules cap the default loss guarantee a fintech can give its lending partner at 5% of the loan portfolio[2], so your share of credit risk is limited and should be shown.
If you cannot yet name a partner, say which you are speaking to and what stage the talks are at. A blank here reads as a risk you have not thought about.
In the meeting
Slide by slide
The order follows the structure most investors expect, from Sequoia's original business plan outline[3] to Y Combinator's seed deck advice[4]. The notes are what changes for fintech.
Red flags
Investors give a deck a few minutes. DocSend found average review time fell to under three minutes in 2022[5]. These are the slides that use those minutes badly.
Astitva writes your investor story free from a short brief, in this order, then designs each slide in your own brand for 5 credits. A 12-slide deck is 60 credits.
No card needed. Packs from ₹299 or $3, no subscription.
Twelve slides in investor order, with volume, revenue, take rate or margin, fraud or credit loss and CAC payback shown clearly, plus a slide on how you are regulated: your own licence or a named partner bank or NBFC.
Volume (TPV, AUM or loan book), take rate or net interest margin, fraud and credit loss rates by cohort, CAC and payback period, and concentration in your largest customers and partners.
Not always. Many early fintechs operate through a regulated partner. Investors will still want to see which path you are on, who the partner is and what it costs to get your own licence if you plan to.
Yes. Astitva writes the investor story from a short brief for free, then designs each slide in your brand for 5 credits. New accounts get 50 free credits.
Next: how to brand a fintech startup · all pitch deck guides
Figures from these sources were current when this guide was written. Rules and benchmarks change, so check the latest version before you rely on one.